17 Great Moments Of Destrucity From The Ultimate Warrior’s Blood-Pumping Life

If you love pro wrestling like I do or if you just watched it when you were a kid, you were stunned last night when The Ultimate Warrior passed away. I haven’t really been able to put the words together yet. He was at the WWE Hall of Fame on Saturday. He was at WrestleMania 30 on Sunday. They played his music and he walked out onto the stage and waved at everyone. He showed up on Raw on Monday, put on a plastic Ultimate Warrior mask and cut a promo about how everyone dies, but the Warrior spirit will live forever. On Tuesday, he died.

Until we can find the right words, all we can do is what the Warrior wanted — be the storytellers, and never forget the wonderful, ridiculous, asinine, important stuff he did in the wrestling ring. There was nobody else like Warrior. Here are 17 of those moments you think about when you think of him, and the best part is that there are probably 50 more I could include and laugh about, smile about and pump my fists up and down over.

As a skinny kid growing up in Scotland, the Ultimate Warrior vs Rick Rude in a steel cage at summerslam 90 was the first WWF match I ever saw, and it blew my little ten year old mind. I’m genuinely bummed out about this, the only positive is that he got to accept his award an step out in front of a live crowd again one last time. It’ll be a hell of a sight watching him burst through the pearly gates while his music plays…

I had the pleasure of attending Wrestlemania VIII as an 8 year old. Say what you want about the Hogan-Sid match, but when the Ultimate Warrior’s music hit at the end, it was probably the greatest moment of my life up to that point. The stadium exploded, and I wouldn’t hear a louder reaction in the Hoosier Dome until Marlin Jackson intercepted Tom Brady in 2007 to send the Colts to the Super Bowl. I remember almost floating down the steps as we left that night, and I’ll always have that memory close to my heart. RIP Warrior.

That’s what I was thinking too. He looked rough doing his promo on Raw Monday, but I didn’t think he was ready to keel over or anything. What I’m thinking, and I’ve seen a lot of other people speculating on this as well, is that he knew he was sick, the higher ups with WWE did as well, and wanted to make sure that he got everything in with the HoF, Mania and Raw. Just not sure if anyone expected him to drop dead walking to his car, even after that speech on Raw.

The other thing I keep thinking about is that at the HOF the fans were chanting “one more match” and he said something like “yeah, that’s definitely not going to happen but I’m glad to be back.” I thought it was odd at the time that a guy with that kind of personal confidence would have been that direct that wasn’t ever going to wrestle again (hell even Bret Hart got one more match and he isn’t allowed to take a bump anymore). Makes me think he knew he had worse health problems than just being an older, beat up wrestler.

@Gosh Zilla: My thoughts exactly. This is much like the last scene of The Wrestler where you have a guy going out to the roar of the crowd and his loyal fans. He probably sensed it was coming and Vince/HHH/Stephanie wanted a final hurrah before it happened.

Thinking about it, it makes me happy that he had a chance to say goodbye to the fans and make amends with the wrestlers in the back before this happened.

After being in exile for so long, I believe that over the past few days, his heart just got so full of love that it could not handle it. At least he was in a good place when he passed and will now be remembered in a positive light.

Same here. It was like seeing Superman get beat up by the white trash truck driver in Superman II. I remember wanting Hulkster or Macho Man to get in there and beat down Undertaker.

Another moment I hated as a kid was when The Mouth of the South and Dino Bravo pulled Tugboat out of the audience and beat down Warrior as they were having a push up battle with Tugboat on their backs.

I hope Mojo Rawley watches all these Warrior videos, to learn how a man can use nothing but energy, intensity, and total immersion into his gimmick to become one of the most popular to step through the ropes.

I was a weird kid who always rooted for the bad guys. As in, the only one in the room rooting for King Kong Bundy at Wrestlemania 2. But even I got caught up in Warrior-mania. It was impossible to dislike anything about that lovable lunatic headcase. This is a shocking and sad day indeed.

Can we talk about possibly his greatest accomplishment; captaining the best team in Survivor Series history. Warrior, Legion of Doom, and Texas Tornado is by far the greatest 4 man group created for the Thanksgiving classic.

Just rewatched that and, of course, while not the greatest technical match ever, it is one of my favorite stories ever told in the ring. Warrior realizing the magnitude of a career vs career match and not wasting all his energy running out to the ring, Hebner being super lenient with the rules and making deliberate counts to make sure this was really it if he finally got to 3. Warrior talking to his hands and getting the signal from his gods. Kicking out of 5 elbow drops and Savage kicking out of the press slam/splash combo which just didn’t happen as much back then. And of course the Elizabeth reunion which always makes things a little dusty. Especially when he reverses their usual roles and holds the ropes open for her. It’s all greatness in wrestling form and it’s a damn shame there is suddenly such a black cloud of death over it in the last 10 years or so.

As I kid I was at a roadhouse / pub that was showing the ‘Mania VI PPV (yeah, I was 14 and at a bar with my dad watching Hogan vs. The Ultimate Warrior) and I remember the place was packed with the crowd pretty evenly split between Warrior and Hogan. I was a massive Little Warrior from the first time I read about ‘The Dingo Warrior’ in the old-school wrestling mags back in the day. So it was pretty much the greatest thing of life when he beat Hogan.
That and watching him break Hercules’ big steel chain on TV are my all-time favourite Warrior memories.

I still remember the Royal Rumble moment. I think I was about 12 at the time. About a half dozen of us were watching the Rumble together and we were all on our feet going nuts when just the two of them were left in the ring. That was freakin’ amazing.

I got into wrestling at the time of the feud with Papa Shango. Every week I’d be frightened of him and the black goo he’d make appear out of the Ultimate Warrior’s scalp. (whatever the hell was that?) Any how, when I was about 7 or 8 my Uncle took me to a house show where the Ultimate Warrior came out and just squashed Papa Shango. Great childhood moment.

In a world where Hulk Hogan was every kid’s favorite, I was a huge Warrior fan. I loved watching his crazy ass shake the ropes, reach to the heavens, and basically just be a 275 pound bundle of destruction and batshit insanity.

I was so happy to see him get inducted and patch things up with WWE….and that makes it so much harder to deal with now. I can’t believe he’s gone, just like that.

I was mostly a WCW fan growing up, but I loved watching the Ultimate Warrior. Just the insane energy he had a all times had me pretty geeked out as a kid. I haven’t seen a lot of these matches in years and it was good to watch back though all this. Good work putting this together Brandon. I’m also glad I had a chance to watch Raw Monday night and catch his last promo.

I haven’t seen Warrior’s HOF speech yet because I was in NOLA, just got home two hours ago and haven’t really watched anything back yet.

Anyone know why the Hall of Fame isn’t available on the Network? Was there something he said that is better left unavailable right now? I’m about to go watch on YouTube, but I may have had enough Wresting Emotions.

I was able to find the HOF Red Carpet, but the HOF Ceremony. Maybe I’m just too tired.

I’m just speculating, but it might be because there were some really awkward moments at the HOF.

– Lita was the first inductee and she just kept talking. Her speech was fine and she was very well-spoken, but it seriously went on for like 45 minutes.

– Mr. T embarrassingly ranted about his mother, not being a rapist, urinary tract infections, and eventually they sent Kane out to shake his hand and escort to the back because he was making everyone uncomfortable.

Also, I’m willing to bet he had a talk with those funeral parlor guys afterward where he suggested next time they not bang on a box he is inside of with sledgehammers. Because, you know….that shit kinda sucks ass.

Every time a wrestler dies in a basically “normal” manner, it is supremely bittersweet for me. This pretend sport is almost as bad as pro football for ruining the people we come to love, and Warrior’s death is a reminder to me that these performers do not get the support they need, from anyone.

Farewell, Warrior. Chris Benoit, Curt Hennig, Owen Hart, Randy Savage, and countless others will be there to greet you. It’s Heaven, so everyone does their own booking, every match is the main event, and every belt is the championship.

My cousin made a good point. Would we have been nearly as shocked if we hadn’t just seen him this weekend? It’s just a sad fact that this pro wrestling we love so much kills a lot of people way too soon.